Politics of Ethnicity in Monrovia, Liberia and Kankan, Guinea – A Comparative Analysis

POLITICS OF ETHNICITY IN MONROVIA, LIBERIA AND KANKAN, GUINEA - A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS Carole Ammann and Andrea Kaufmann INTRODUCTION Today, the president's ethnic group commits acts of ethnocentrism, even racism. This is not good. The president should work with everybody. We have to stand together to ease things, because one person or one ethnic group alone cannot develop the country. But if people say this specific ethnic group is in power and only members of this group benefit from it instead of the whole population... in this case, can it work? No, it cannot. (Interview, young woman, Kankan, 02.1 1.201 1) The latest news from Liberia and Guinea clearly demonstrates that in both countries ethnic frictions are recurring major issues.1 In Kankan, situated in the Haute Guinee Region, the tensions are based on prejudices and contestation mainly between the Manding and the Fulani, the latter constituting a minority in this area. In Liberia's capital Monrovia, where people of various social milieus live next to one another, the issue of belonging, especially regarding the Manding is contested.2 In both urban contexts, 3 there are many different 1 This article is a joint output by Carole Amrnann, (PhD Candidate) and Andrea Kaufmann (PhD). They have conducted ethnographic field research in Guinea and Liberia respectively and were part of the research project The Work of State Imageries at the Institute of Social Anthropology, University of Basel, Switzerland. URL; http://www.unibas-ethno.ch/forschung. The northern Mande languages are summarised by linguists as Manding, which comprises Bamanakan, Maninakan, Mandinka, Dyulakan and other (Fairhead 2003: 280-283). This subfamily of the Niger-Kordofanian is widespread in West Africa. Their claimed origin is in the Mali Empire (Brooks 1993: 29-33; O'Toole and Baker 2005: 139). The ernie term for the Manding in Liberia is "Mandingo", see for example Boas (2013 or 2008), Hojbjerg (2010), Konneh (1996a or 1996b). In Guinea, scholars often name the Manding speaking people "Malinké" and the Fulani "Peuhl" or "Peul", see for example Arieff and McGovern (2013), Goerg (2006) or Schmidt (2005). The ernie words used in Kankan are "Maninka" and "Fulbe" respectively. Liberia's capital Monrovia consists of about a million inhabitants, depending on statistics (cf. Government of Liberia 2009). The local government of Kankan, 58 Ammann and Kaufmann conceptions and interpretations of et In the two settings, social actors fr state or religious institutions as we engaged in debates that basically cent eligible to shape the nation-state? Tho lived realities, where peaceful inter basis, it is striking how ethnic fricti such as for example in the context of elections. Against the backdrop of experienced in the recent past, a n international actors stress the need for reconciliation in order to attain social cohesion and an imagined better future. How this may be attained is, however, another hotly debated issue. This article analyses discursive formations of ethnicity, narratives of unity and reconciliation and lived realities in a comparative perspective on Kankan and Monrovia. It addresses the historical, political and social circumstances that influence the emergence and existence of ethnic tensions and the changes therein. Further, it deals with the manner in which individuals and groups on various levels approach these conflicts: What are the local and national state actors' statements and practices regarding ethnic tensions? How do the heads of state address these issues in their speeches?4 How do ordinary people deal with ethnic frictions? And how do they respond to the state practices in this regard? These questions emerged out of ethnographies on state imageries in urban Liberia and Guinea. Field research was based on discourse and practice analysis as well as the mapping of social actors and then relations in conflict-affected settings. Information was gathere through observation and participation, group- and semi structured interviews, informal conversations, but also newspaper articles and radio programs. Furthermore, speeches of political leaders wer Guinea's second largest city, estimates that 200,000 people are actually living the (personal communication, mayor's representative, Kankan, 22.11.2011). 4 When talking about the government, many people actually mean the president. Th becomes visible when they refer to the government by using the personal prono...